Tuesday, 11/12/13, was the next-to-last date this century with consecutive numbers, and a very popular date for numerologically inspired romantics to get married.

But on Alcatraz, Anne Wojcicki, estranged wife of Google co-founder Sergey Brin, threw a party to celebrate "freedom," it said on the invitation. Perhaps this had to do with the August announcement that after six years of marriage the couple were living apart. It was said at the time that he was having an affair with Google Glass marketing manager Amanda Rosenberg. ("Sleeping her way to the top" was how one British newspaper described the Other Woman, but in light of accounts of her repeatedly texting him via Google Glass, this might be amended to "seeing her way to the top.")

The basic cost for access to the island, which includes renting the park rangers who have to be on hand to make sure nothing is amiss, is $20,000. That doesn't include transportation to and from the island or (I'm thinking it wasn't a potluck) caterers. I'm told that fewer than 100 people were expected.

-- John Sayles, a Williams College classmate of David Strathairn's, is bringing a big party to ACT on Sunday afternoon to see the actor in "Underneath the Lintel." Sayles directed Strathairn in "Return of the Secaucus Seven," the director's first movie, and many after that.

-- Giants execs attending Major League Baseball meetings in Orlando had dinner Monday night at Christini's, an Italian restaurant. Of course, they were wearing their World Series rings (well, if you had a diamond tiara, you'd wear it to the gemologist's convention, wouldn't you?) and apparently the strolling accordion player noticed that, and took the opportunity to play a stream of San Francisco-flavored melodies including "I Left My Heart in San Francisco," "Don't Stop Believin'," "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" and "The Godfather Theme," and made the Giants group the center of attention.

Lots of guys in spiffy sport coats and even spiffier cowboy hats were at Tuesday's publication party for "Hearst Ranch: Family, Land and Legacy," a new picture book/history of the 82,000-acre ranch still owned by the Hearst family (which also owns this bunkhouse-less spread at the corner of Fifth and Mission). The Hearst Ranch belongs to the family; Hearst Castle is a state park.

Steve Hearst, who oversees the ranch and wrote the book's introduction, is one of 63 lineal descendants of William Randolph Hearst, whose father, George, bought the land in 1865. "All of them get their mail elsewhere," he said, "and all call the ranch their home."

The book's text is by Victoria Kastner, ranch historian for more than 30 years, who told the crowd at the Local Edition, in the basement of the Hearst Building, the book "is a reflection of Steve Hearst and his love for the place," a celebration of having taken "a 19th century landscape, saved it into the 21st century, then saved it as a gift for the future."

As to the family gathering there, its traditional Thanksgiving will include the post-Thanksgiving Marco Polo leftover dish invented by Mary Hearst, Steve's mother. The recipe:

Layer leftover turkey, honey-baked ham, lots of bread crumbs, lots of cheese, cover with (canned) cream of mushroom soup, and bake. The layering is essential, as is the whole being covered by the soup's liquid. The name of the dish comes from the swimming pool game, perhaps a reflection of its liquid component.

Public Eavesdropping

"This job is definitely not for me. Did you know that if you don't show up for a day that they fire you?"

Man to man, overheard in front of the Pasta Shop on Fourth Street in Berkeley, overheard by Bonnie Jones